Man jailed for ‘brutal and frenzied’ attack on heavily pregnant girlfriend

A man who left his heavily pregnant fiance in a vegetative state has been jailed for 21 years.

‘Jealous and possessive’ Petar Petrov, 31, stabbed eight-months-pregnant Ana Campos in the face, before slitting his wrists, knifing himself in the abdomen and jumping through a first-floor window.

The couple had been together for just over a year, and had moved into the flat in Edmonton Green, north London, just one month before the attack.

Petrov, who claimed he suffered ‘flashbacks’ from his time in the French Foreign Legion, had also been suspended from work for being aggressive towards a male colleague who had made a joke to Ms Campos.

The Old Bailey heard 33-year-old Ms Campos was now in hospital in Spain, having suffered ‘severe brain damage’. She is ‘highly unlikely’ to ever recover consciousness.

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey (Picture: Central News)

The two met while they both worked at the Rembrandt Hotel in South Kensington, where Petrov was an assistant head chef and Campos was a room attendant.

On the night of the accident, neighbour Kerry Keogh heard loud shouting followed by a bang that sounded like a ‘car crash’, at which point he rushed to Ms Campos’s aid.

She was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but her baby miraculously survived after being delivered by emergency caesarean.

Martyn Bowyer, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant himself described this as an attack “like an animal” and that he had “attacked her as though she was the enemy”. It was a violent, brutal, sustained and frenzied attack.’

He added that Ms Campos had ‘barely survived the attack’, and that her life would be supported artificially.

The facts: Domestic abuse in the UK

• One in four women experience domestic abuse in their lives. For men, this figure is one in six.
• Two women are killed by a current or former partner every week in England and Wales.
• Globally, one in three women have experienced sexual or physical violence – in most cases from a partner or family member.
• Around 54 per cent of rapes reported to police take place within the context of domestic violence.
• Every minute a domestic violence case is reported to police. But…
• Only 35 per cent of domestic violence cases are actually reported to the police.

Sources: Refuge, nia

‘Why this attack happened is not entirely clear,’ Bowyer continued. ‘Investigation reveals that it was clearly a combination of an argument that night and the background of the relationship.

‘The defendant was jealous and possessive of Ms Campos. He disliked what he perceived as people flirting with her and her reaction to it.’

Ross Johnson, defending, told the court his client was suffering from ‘significant psychological problems’ from his time in the French Foreign Legion.

‘On one occasion in Mali, he came under fire and a soldier lost control of himself and killed a woman and child in front of him,’ Johnson said, adding that he had been admitted to A&E six months earlier with anxiety and depression. ‘His regret and remorse could not be any greater.’

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/11/man-jailed-for-brutal-and-frenzied-attack-on-heavily-pregnant-girlfriend-6442084/